I made these black bean brownies a few weeks ago and have been hanging out to share the recipe ever since. I kept going to post it, but every time, another (more seasonal) recipe seemed to sneak in front. Actually, I’m not quite sure why it’s taken me so long to make these, full stop. I mean, chocolate, gluten-free, dairy-free! What was stopping me? It’s been on my ever expanding “to make” list for well over a year and at one point I even bought a tin of organic black beans while still back home in New Zealand with full intentions to bake. But it never happened and I think we either ate the beans for dinner one night in the mad blur of weeks leading up to our big move or I gave them away in one of the many food boxes I prepared and divvied out to friends and family at the last minute after cleaning out the pantry. I don’t remember. Anyway none of that matters now, I've made them and my god, they are amazing.

The week they finally got made I was on a little bit of a chocolate bender; it was the same week I cooked two batches of these cookies, trying to get them right. As you could imagine I was already pretty chocolated out by the time the brownie came out of the oven, so after ‘testing’ a few slices (and putting a few aside for the kids and Si) I took the rest to kindy that afternoon giving it to friends and Ada’s teachers for an afternoon treat. I purposely failed to mention the secret ingredient to all but one of my friends… you know, to give the brownies a fair chance at being eaten and loved!

The next kindy day I asked them all if they could guess what the secret ingredient was… none of them believed me when I said black beans! (There really is no detectable 'bean' taste at all). And the only words that were used to describe them were yum, lovely, delicious, perfect! Coming from non gluten-free’s, that’s a pretty great result.

Not only are these possibly the highest protein brownie you may ever eat, but they are also rich, intensely chocolately and moist. Basically everything you could ever ask for in a good brownie. Cut into while just barely warm you are greeted with pockets of oozy chocolate, while a little chilling in the fridge turns it into a rich densely fudgey number. Both insanely good.

I’ve got into the habit of cooking a big pot of beans (lima beans, chickpeas, black beans, borlotti, black eyed beans, anything really) at a time, cooling them and freezing in small bags. This makes them super easy to defrost and use, while also taking the hassle out of remembering to soak beans the night before. (How many times have you forgotten to do that?!)

I decided to go for a simple pure chocolate flavoured brownie, but feel free to add some chopped nuts or other flavourings if you like. And do what I did- keep the black beans a secret until after the last chocolate stained finger has been licked... and wait to see the surprised looks that will surely come!

gluten-free, dairy-free black bean browniesSoft brown sugar can be used in place of muscovado if you prefer and remember to make sure your baking powder is gluten-free, as some aren't. I use Whittaker's 50% dark block which is dairy-free.makes 12.

3/4 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight in plenty of cold water (or use 425g can of tinned black beans, rinsed well and drained)

If using dried beans, drain soaked beans and cover with fresh water. Bring to the boil then reduce and simmer for about 1 hour until very soft, but still holding their shape. Drain and set aside to cool.

Tip cooled beans into the bowl of a food processor and blend to form a smooth paste. Add the eggs and oil and pulse to combine. Add sugar, cocoa, almond meal, vanilla and baking powder. Process until smooth and well combined. Add chopped chocolate and pulse to evenly distribute. Spoon mixture into prepared slice tin and smooth the top off with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin. Slice into 12 squares and serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container for 3-4 days (that's a guess as ours only made it to the second day!). It will firm up and go more fudgey if stored in the fridge.

58 comments:

Oh yum, I will make these this weekend! Was looking for a great treat to make our yoga teacher. Plus have been eying up Heidi's black bean brownies for while. Your photos definitely sealed the deal!Rach

Hannah~ You know how much I love to share recipes that use strange ingredients! Tofu in cakes and bliss balls, black beans in brownies...

Leigh~ I need to stock up there real soon too!

Simone~ Coconut oil would be wonderful!

Anja~ Thanks :-)

Leonie~ You know, because the beans and almond meal do such a great job of holding things together I wouldn't be surprised if using 2 chia eggs and maybe a little stewed apple (apple sauce) could replace the 3 eggs? If you aren't familiar with chia eggs, to make 1 chia egg mix 1 tablespoon chia seeds with 3 tablespoons water. Set aside for 5 minutes stirring occasionally until thick and jelly-like. 1 chia egg happily replaces 1 regular egg in most baking recipes. Let me know if you try it out and have any luck :-)

oooh, these look really lovely and chewy. Just like i like my brownies. And I gotta say, I'm not much of a black bean user. I've got a jar of them in my pantry, but never seem inspired to soak them up for a savoury dish. This looks like my answer! xx

Wow - I am really impressed with your secret ingredient - who would have thought?! In fact, with all those beans in there, this pretty much counts as health food in my opinion! I totally have to try these.

Hope you'll join in with Sweet New Zealand again this month - link-up is now open here http://bit.ly/nScpZE

WOW what a great recipe...and so easy! I substituted the vanilla essence for orange essence and grated in some orange rind as well. Yummmm. Next time I make these, I'm going to keep the vanilla essence and add in a large handful of fresh blueberries. I think they will make a lovely summery foil for the richness of the chocolate.

Sorry but I have no idea as I don't calorie count... Click on the link above for the Living Without recipe that I adapted mine from and it has the calorie count for there one at the bottom of their recipe. Mine wouldn't be too different I'd say.

I have a question about the beans: Do you know the exact weight of the amount of beans after they've been soaked? You say to use a 425g can, but I could only find a 540ml can which ends up having only 352g of beans after the liquid is washed out. So do I need 425g of beans? Or was that taking in account of the liquid too? ?_?

The 425g is the weight of the contents of the can, beans and liquid. So I'm not 100% sure what the weight of the drained beans would be? I used freshly cooked beans and have a vague memory of them being around 1 1/2 cups of cooked beans if that helps?... I don't think it would alter the recipe too much if you had a few extra or less beans.

Ok, thank you! I made them with the 325g that I had and they turned out fine! Thanks for sharing this recipe--delicious! I also worked it out that the whole recipe has about 2500 calories, or about 220 calories per serving. :)

Thank you so much for your very inspiring blog! I am new to cooking and baking gluten-free, since I tried to find something to bring for a friend who is intolerant. I love that you recipie is quite easy and I know/can get a hold of all the ingedrients, which doesn't so much apply to the other recipies I could find on the net. The brwonies tturned out super! Moist, chocolately, not to sweet - exactly how I like them. And I really can't taste the beans (even though I like them). Stellar! :-D

I have been making these non-stop since finding your recipe, they're so good! Made a round one as a super-indulgent cake too : ) I added hazelnuts with the chopped chocolate. Amazing thank you! I can't wait to make more off your site xx

WOW!! I'm not sure how much of the remaining batter I just licked out of the food processor but its all over my arm =) Just was instructed by my Dr to go gluten and dairy free and I am so glad to find your blog! Thank your friends for me for suggesting it, your a life saver. Spent the first few days depressed that I wouldn't really enjoy food again but I was so wrong. Cheers from New Plymouth

YUM! i subbed half brown sugar with dessicated coconut and used coconut oil as the oil. Delicious. Not telling the mister i used beans in choc brownie either...! ;p and used whittakers dark cacao... mmm

Just made these! So good! I substituted coconut oil for the vegetable oil and garbanzo bean flour for the almond meal ( had no almonds on hand). Turned out great! Not going to tell the kids about the beans tho My little secret :)

Hey, I've not tried this recipe before with less sugar but if I was going to, I'd probably substitute some or all of it with either honey or apple puree/sauce, but maybe go for 1/2-3/4 cup instead of the full 1 cup. When removing sugar from a recipe you have to be aware that sugar not only adds sweetness but moisture also. So keep that in mind when doing so xx

I've been making brownies with black beans for awhile, but always from a box. This was my first time doing them homemade. I made a couple of changes (organic whey protein powder in place of the almond meal, carob powder in place of the cocoa powder, and coconut oil in place of vegetable oil) and they turned out amazing!

Can't wait to try this! You mentioned freezing cooked beans in bags. I used to do this but I'm trying to stop using plastic around food. I have started canning beans (black, pinto, garbanzo, etc.) It's a little work, but then I have a bunch of ready-to-eat beans which are very inexpensive and not in BPA-lined cans. Even easier--you can freeze cooked beans (or anything I guess) in glass canning jars. It takes more room in the freezer than bags, but there's no plastic to throw away after it has leached chemicals into your food.